eBay to Price Match Amazon, Walmart on Over 50,000 Items

On Wednesday, online retailer eBay Inc. EBAY announced a new initiative that would see it directly compete with some of the biggest names in e-commerce.

Dubbed Price Match Guarantee, eBay seeks to offer a price match on over 50,000 items in its online inventory. The program is a promise that eBay will have the best deal on certain items online, or it will match the lowest price of a rival. And those rivals include, of course, Amazon.com AMZN and Walmart WMT. eBay will also match prices from retailers like Home Depot HD, Sears SHLD, Target TGT, Best Buy BBY, Wayfair W, and Jet.com, which is owned by Walmart.

In order for an item to be considered for price matching, they must be new and unopened, and be sold through eBay Deals, which is a selection of the company's "trending" inventory across all its many categories. These items are usually offered anywhere from 20%-90% off, and are sourced from more than 900 of eBay's trusted sellers.

Customers must contact eBay customer service in order to request a price match; they'll receive a coupon, which expires in 24 hours, for the difference to be used during the checkout process. eBay said that it will only price match items that are also sold on its competitors' websites, and the items must be in stock at the time you call to request a price match.

"Shoppers can shop with confidence knowing that they're getting the best value available on eBay," said Hal Lawton, Senior Vice President of North America at eBay, in a statement. "Our eBay Deals selection has grown exponentially since being launched in 2011. The prices are already extremely competitive, but if a shopper finds it for less, we'll gladly match the price of our competitors," he added.

eBay stressed that customers do not need a membership to access eBay Deals, a clear nod to Amazon's popular $99-per-year Prime membership. The company also recently announced Guaranteed Delivery that promises package delivery in three days or less. This initiative is set to roll out at some point this summer for U.S. shoppers.

Price Match Guarantee is currently live, and is only available in the U.S. as of now.

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